Written Answers Friday 31 July 2009

Scottish Executive

Dentistry

Jamie Stone (Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what change there has been since June 2008 to the number of people living in the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency waiting to be registered with NHS dental practices.

Shona Robison: This is a matter for NHS Highland. This information is not held centrally.

  NHS Highland has been allocated £5.64 million under the primary and community care premises modernisation programme funding. Within this, funding has been provided for the development of dental surgeries in Inverness, Thurso, Dingwall, Campbeltown and Oban for lease back to independent General Dental Practices.

Economy

John Park (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, following the resolution of the Parliament on motion S3M-4187 on 21 May 2009, what consideration it has given subsequently to the implementation of the ProAct scheme.

Fiona Hyslop: In developing Scottish solutions to take forward our Economic Recovery Programme, the Scottish Government has considered a range of schemes across, and outwith, the UK including ProAct. On 10 June, I announced ScotAction - an integrated skills package combining new and improved measures to help individuals and businesses through the recession.

  ScotAction provides skills assistance - including wage subsidies in some cases - for training for work, training in work and training from work to work, to help Scottish people and businesses survive the current downturn and thrive when the economy starts to recover. The first phase of ScotAction was the introduction on 10 June of our "Adopt an Apprentice" scheme which offers a £2,000 one-off subsidy to employers willing to recruit a redundant apprentice and commit to helping them complete their training.

  On 29 June, through ScotAction, the Scottish Government announced up to £3 million to support the recruitment of up to 100 new apprentices within the life sciences sector, enabling innovation and supporting skills development in a key sector critical to Scotland’s future economic success. This scheme enables life sciences companies to take on two apprenticeships for the cost of one to rapidly build the capacity in the sector for further growth in business and jobs.

Health

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans there are to develop the indicators of relative need for older people for other service user groups such as people with learning disabilities.

Shona Robison: The Scottish Government recognises the potential contribution that an information tool like the indicator of relative need (IoRN) can make in the planning and delivery of health and social care services in the community. This contribution may be at the level of the individual person assessed as requiring care or support for health and social care needs, and also at the organisational level through summary information for monitoring and for future planning. The version of the IoRN that is currently in use has been designed to support provision of services to older people. Further research and development will be required before its use can be extended to, for example, people with learning disabilities. Early consideration is being given to how best to engage with key stakeholders on whether such a development would be welcomed.

Scottish Investment Bank

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received representations from the business community expressing concerns regarding the Scottish Investment Bank.

Jim Mather: No such representations have been received other than positive dialogue with business organisations on the subject at recent meetings.